Characters locked to locations at Disneyland?

[RR0206]

So I've seen this reported at three different websites, with the main report seeming to have come from HERE

Basically the gist is: The PhotoPass department at Disneyland has become so powerful and integrated with Entertainment that soon they will be restricting characters to certain locations only. That would mean that characters would no longer "wander" as they had before. Part of this new plan seems to have already gone into effect because apparently there are no more neat moments when characters hop on a quick ride with guests.

This seems like a really terrible decision and a definite blow to the magic of the park that Walt built. I would honestly like to see just the opposite of this and see an increase in these types of interactions. I mainly go to WDW and while I've never seen a character actually go on a ride, I've absolutely loved seeing Peter Pan, Wendy, Lady Tremaine and the Stepsisters move interact with people around Fantasyland even if they're only en route to (or from) a set. There needs to be more of this, not less!

 

[Oglet]

I couldn't agree any more with you!

I'm actually on my way to Disneyland right now and it will be interesting to see how the meet and greets differ from those at WDW. I've always said that WDW characters are like prisoners that have been stripped of a large portion of their personality.

 

[gymnastgirlflips]

What!? This is terrible news.

I've been to Disney World 10 times and Disneyland once, and I have to say that characters at Disneyland are so much more fun because they have so many different scenarios and are free to go wherever they wish. I spend some of my freetime watching videos of Disneyland characters walking around and its hilarious. I wish they did that at WDW.

I don't want that to change at Disneyland.

 

[WDW_lover_in_SC]

It's so dumb they don't let the characters wander at WDW. I mean there is a photopass person beside every trash can in the parks (at MK for sure) so that's a terrible excuse. Its on of the few things I dislike about the Magic Kingdom.

 

[nytimez]

I actually don't care one whit about this. I just want them to have as many characters around as possible to draw more people off the lines of the rides I want to go on.

If this means someone has to walk halfway across the park to meet Goofy instead of getting in front of me on Space Mountain, all the better... lol.

 

[1Mouse2RulethemAll]

I am sorry to say I can understand why DL is thinking of restricting the characters. I was just there last month and characters would get practically attacked by a mob. They don't have handlers like in WDW and that is becoming a liability.

 

[OKW Lover]

Sorry, I don't understand the fuss about this.

The characters are still in the parks, its just that now you know where to find them if you are looking for them.

 

[skiingfast]

So I've seen this reported at three different websites, with the main report seeming to have come from HERE

Basically the gist is: The PhotoPass department at Disneyland has become so powerful and integrated with Entertainment that soon they will be restricting characters to certain locations only. That would mean that characters would no longer "wander" as they had before. Part of this new plan seems to have already gone into effect because apparently there are no more neat moments when characters hop on a quick ride with guests.

I'm not sure this is a new development or even the current case. I've seen the characters roaming in both resorts since the 2009 meeting. In 2010 I have ridden rides with characters also. The only thing the article can base this off is a long time ago most charactes wandered and now they have locations to preform meet and greets.

The meet and greet systems run just about the same in both resorts, the difference being if the specific park has more spots purpose designed for meet and greets. MK is working on more and DCA which only had a couple is sure to get more as some construction finishes up.

 

[Oglet]

Characters, What Characters?

Photopass, What Photopass?

Okay maybe a little over the top there were some but not many out at all today. Seen maybe 7 or 8 characters and 2 photopass photographers, havent had one photopass picture taken at all.

Spoke to a couple of the attendants that I could find and they informed me that since Christmas there have been a lot of character cutbacks.